Interview: Elvis Kipruto Maiyo and Micah Kiplagat Samoei

Faaker See (Austria), 28 June 2009

Micah Kiplagat Samoei (left) and Elvis Kipruto Maiyo (right)

Two very good friends finished first and second in the Faakerseelauf 2009.

On a very rainy day, Elvis Kipruto Maiyo (20) of Kenya won the Faakersee Half Marathon in a time of 1:07:04. His compatriot Micah Kiplagat Samoei (29) came second in 1:08:25. The race followed an undulating two-lap course around Lake Faak in southern Austria, partly on muddy forest trails.

R.I.: Well done! You did great times on this difficult course. Do you like races like this one?

Elvis: Yes! I like it when the course goes a bit up and down.

R.I.: And the weather?

Micah: Oh, no! We like it cold but we don't like the rain.

R.I.: What's your personal best on the half marathon?

Micah: 65min 51sec. I did that last year in the "Kärnten Läuft" race in Klagenfurt. I finished 10th. We were 15 Kenyans there.

Elvis: My PB is 66min 2sec, in the Nairobi Marathon. I started running last year.

R.I.: You have been running just one year?

Elvis: Yes, I was in school until last year. But I did cross-country and track races in school.

R.I.: What distances do you like most?

Elvis: We run all distances up to the half marathon.

Micah: I want to step up to the marathon, maybe next year.

R.I.: Do you run mountain races as well?

Elvis: I love mountain races. Last week I won the Klander-Berglauf in Kärnten.

Micah: I'm not good in the mountains. I'm too tall - 1.83 metre. Elvis is 1.65 metre.

R.I.: Can you tell us a bit about your training?

Elvis: We train in a group of seven Kenyans. For three months, until September 1st, we live in the Austrian Alps, at an elevation of 1400 metres. We run three times a day, every day at 6am and at 10am, and then again in the evening. We do most of the training on trails, and we run around a small lake. There's no track where we live.

R.I.: And how often do you do speed training?

Micah: About twice a week. We run, for example, one minute very fast, and then one minute easy, overall for 40 minutes. Or we do 1km intervals, aiming at a pace of 2min 56sec. And we do tempo runs of not less than 45 minutes.

R.I.: What's the main difference between races in Kenya and in Austria?

Micah: In Kenya, there's a lot of strong competition, and the runners start very fast.

R.I.: Where do you live in Kenya?

Elvis: In Eldoret.

R.I.: That's at an elevation of more than 2000 metres, right? Are you Kalenjin?

Micah: Yes, Kalenjin! How do you know?

R.I.: Well, many great runners come from the Kalenjin tribe.

Micah and Elvis: Oh yes! Paul Tergat, Benjamin Maiyo, Isaak Songok, Augustin Choge, Alex Kipchirchir, Asbel Kiprop, Tegla Loroupe, Joyce Chepchumba, ..., ..., ..., ..., ..., ...

R.I.: Do you find life difficult here in Europe, so far away from your families?

Micah: We miss our families. But they know we have to go. A man has to go.

Elvis: And we enjoy our stay here in Europe.

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